START WITH AN IDEA
Choosing your figures is the first step
in preparing a set for D&D
play. In order to have the most active
choice, you should begin with a
firm idea of what you want. Most fantasy
gamers buy quite a few
miniatures early on without putting much
thought into the types of
characters they will actually use in gaming.
As a result of this hasty
purchase, often on impulse, they never
prepare and use their miniatures
in actual play, and would have been better
off to never have purchased
their figures in the first place. Buying
miniatures without an idea of what
you really want is like going grocery
shopping without a list. You may
not get what you need, and instead buy
a lot of useless things on
impulse.
The best way to decide what figures you
want is to play D&D a few
times without figures. This will acquaint
you with rules, role capabilities,
and with your own gaming interests. You
won’t need a lot of fighting
man figures if you intend to adventure
as a wizard with only a few
gnomes as company. On the other hand,
lower level clerics and magic
users need protection, and a horde of
fighters will increase their chances
of survival.
CHARACTERS VS. MONSTERS
When you have small amounts of cash to
start with, you may wish to
get adventurer character figures first,
and use a substitute for monsters in
your miniature games. After all, you will
continue to play your own
character(s) no matter what kind of monsters
you encounter, so you’ll
use the character figure more often than
any individual monster. Monsters
are simply not cost effective. You can
often buy 8 or more character
figures for the price of a single good
sized monster. If you only have 3
or 4 monsters, you’ll have a tendency
to use the same ones over and
over. Play could get monotonous once players
figure out that there is a
red dragon
around every third comer.
The character figures that are on display
at your local emporium, will
not always include all the types that
you want. The most popular
castings are often on backorder, and can’t
be obtained in the store. You
may want an alternative source of figures.
To assist fantasy modellers, a
list of manufacturers whose figures are
suitable for fantasy gaming is
included with this article. All of these
firms publish catalogs and sell
through the mails. By ordering through
the mail, you can get figures that
are different from anything that is currently
stocked in your local area.
However, its always best to have an idea
of what the figure looks like
before you order. The names of the castings
do not always give an idea
of their appearance. Unless illustrations
accompany the catalog, you
may be dissappointed with what you get
after the long wait for delivery.
A few representative figures are shown
here. They’re illustrated in
approximately the same scale for comparison.
A GOOD FIGURE
You can spend a lot of time on a casting
and still not have a good
finished product if the initial casting
was poorly made. There are certain
criteria that define a good casting, and
comments are made on each
manufacturer’s products in the list that
follows. Each manufacturer
produces several series or “lines” of
castings — often using the same
artist to produce the figures. Variance
is the usual thing rather than
consistent quality throughout a line.
No manufacturer has any line that is
really excellent throughout, although
many individual castings are strikingly
beautiful.
Miniature figure sculpting is an art form
just as full sized sculpting in
marble. For D&D
fantasy gaming, you should look for several points to
decide whether an individual casting is
really worthwhile.
SCALE: 25mm should be used as the height of a 6 foot tall man.
Figures for hobbits,
elves, hobgoblins, and giants will be taller or shorter
than 25mm in proportion to men. The heights
of each type of character
are defined in TSR publications.
ANIMATION: The casting is much more interesting if it has an
active, animated pose. Fantasy figures
should have a dash and swirl of
their own, and not be limited by austere
court ritual or stiff military
positions.
CRISPNESS: Most of the early figures were sloppily done, with
droops, bulges, and bubbles of material
that distracted from the figure’s
features. With injection casting methods
and good molds, there is no
excuse for this, especially since it makes
the modeler’s work harder.
DETAIL: As modelers become more
capable, greater detail is more
rewarding since it allows the modeller
to test his skill and produce a more
satisfying finished piece.
SWAP YOUR EXTRAS
Since character castings come with 2 or
3 of the same casting
in the same package, swapping is the easiest
way to broaden your
collection. After you have invested 5
or 6 dollars and accumulated
2 or more packages of castings, you can
trade the extras off. If you’re
ever in the position to trade painted
castings for unpainted ones, you
should know that a well painted casting
should be worth 2 or 3
times the value of an unpainted one. A
poorly painted casting, however,
is hardly worth more than an unpainted
one. You’ll know by appearance,
whether any particular casting is a good
job.
This article has touched on several subjects that will interest the
miniature modeller at the very start of
fantasy modelling. Characters,
their types, and sources of miniatures
were all covered. Later articles in
this column will cover modification of
miniatures and other more advanced
techniques. Your own suggestions and questions
can be answered
also — just write to the author (care
of The Dragon) (directly at
1600 S. Eads St.. Arlington, VA 22202),
and questions will be addressed
in FANTASY SMITH’S NOTEBOOK.
DEFINITIONS
FOR FANTASY MINIATURES
Fantasy Figure/Miniature — A full
round miniature statue that can be
used in 25mm scale fantasy gaming.
Ancient Fantasy — Fantasy that takes its inspiration from the ancient
past (5,000 BC to about 800 AD) rather
than the more recent past, the
present, or space combat of the future.
Scale — A means of representing a larger item by a specifically
sized
smaller one. In the fantasy miniature
scale, 25mm represents 6 scale
feet, 4 mm = one scale foot, and one mm
= about 3 scale inches. The
concept of scale and how it affects D&D
play will be covered thoroughly
in a future article of this series.
Monster
— Potential opponent met during fantasy rolegaming play.
The “monster” may
be manlike or otherwise.
Modelling — Preparing and painting miniature figures. This
is not
always as easy as it sounds. When extensive
modifications are required
in a figure or when figures are built
from scratch, a considerable amount
of imagination and craftsmanship are required.
25MM FIGURES FOR
FANTASY GAMES
(All opinions are those of Author and
not of Editor or staff of DRAGON
magazine. Names of specific lines by
individual manufacturers are
underlined. Each line vary in quality.
If a manufacturer puts out a poor
line, the same manufacturer may also
put out a very good one.)
U.S. AIRFIX, AVA International Inc.,
65 Depot Drive, (P.O. Box 7611), Waco,
TX 76710
Airfix Ancients
and Medievals make excellent elves
since they are in HO
gauge scale (20mm high), rather
than in the fantasy
standard 00 gauge scale (25mm
high). AIRFIX has the
added attraction of providing
15 or more 20mm figures
for about $1.98 (or 12¢ per
figure) rather than
the 25¢ to 60¢ per figure charged
by other manufacturers.
AIRFIX is therefore excellent
for low budget starting,
but only for elf types due to
scale limitations.
Recommended sets are Robin Hood
(#1720) and Ancient Britons (#1734).
ARCHIVE MINIATURES,
P.O. Box 93, Burlingame, CA 94010
Fantasy Figures
are generally good, but often are
afflicted by stubbed
hands that appear leprous. You
will have to modify
these if you prize detail. After all,
would you hire a leprous
wizard? Archive is especially
excellent for the following:
Griffons, Centaurs, and
Pegasis.
GARRISON (GREENWOON & BALL)
61 Westbury Street, Thornaby on Tees,
Tees Side,
BRITAIN
Ancients, Swords
& Sorcery High Standards, fine
castings, but not generally
available in the US. Distributed
through Coulter - Bennet
of California.
GRENADIER,
P.O. Box 305, Springfield, PA 19064
Medievals can
be used as fighters, but beware of
warning below. Wizards
& Warriors were developed
for fantasy gaming
and have character pieces that are
not available from
other sources. This series not always
in scale according
to the heights contained in
Advanced D&D.
For instance, fighters are often
30mm rather than the
normal 25mm, and elves are
the same size as men.
Grenadier either believes that
fantasy miniaturists
are too stupid to notice the difference
or that it really doesn’t
matter, after all. Gamma
World
may provide some interesting monsters.
HINCHCLIFFE MODELS LTD.,
21 Station Street, Meltham, Huddersfield,
Yorks HD7
3NX BRITAIN
Ancient and
Renaissance lines can be used as fighters
or modified effectively
and easily for other characters.
Fine detail, distributed
through Heritage, but may be
due for a change in
distributors.
HERITAGE MODELS, INC.,
9840 Monroe Drive, Building 106, Dallas,
TX 97220
Fantastiques
are the poorest castings on the market:
poor animation, mediocre
execution, bad workmanship,
inferior conception.
Don’t buy them unless
they’re heavily discounted.
Lord of the Rings is excellent,
well detailed, readily
available: one of the best on
the market. Star
Trek is not generally applicable, but
can be used for conversions
and the monsters are
interesting. John
Carter, Warlord of Mars has some
characters that are
immediately applicable, especially
in thief
and cleric roles, Dixon Miniatures has a series
of Japanese Samurai
that can be used in fantasy play.
JACK SCRUBY’S MINIATURES,
P.O. Box 1658, Cambria, CA 91324
Scruby has been making
wargaming miniatures since
the early 1950’s. His
figures are mainly used by wargamers,
but the finely detailed
figures could also be
used as character figures,
especially if you want
mounted figures.
MARTIAN MINIATURES,
P.O. Box 447, Copperas Cove, TX 76522
Superb detail and animation, best source
of smaller
figures such as gnomes.
The Fantasy Trip (15 mm)
has 18 different sets of figures. Note
that a dwarf in
15mm is the same size as a gnome in 25mm.
Fantasy
15s has 30 different figures; World
of Fantasy has 25
different figures.
MINIATURE FIGURINES LTD (MINIFIGS),
Box P, Pine Plains, NY 12567
The American factory
of a well known British firm,
Minifigs produces over
3000 historical figures. Esp. of
interest to D&D
players are two series: Dungeons and
Dragons, specifically
authorized by TSR, includes
about 100 different
figures that are especially clean
and easy to paint.
They are the best for beginners.
Valley of the Four
Winds includes more than 400
figures inspired by
weird Flemish painters Brueghel
and Bosch: skeletons,
devils, disgusting monsters.
RAL PARTHA ENTERPRISES,
3726 Lonsdale, Cincinnati, OH 45227
Generally excellent
productions with interesting
poses. Fantasy
figures have over 100 personality
types for D&D
gaming. Royal Armies of the Hyborean
Age has 60 different
fighting men, often in hard to
find, unusual armor/weapon
combinations. New, upgraded
Collector’s Series
features detailed castings of
dwarves and elves.
The elves are too big for normal
fantasy 25mm scale
as defined in Adv. D&D, but
make fine human characters.